Chapter 8

The elder walked the halls of the Hokage tower. Danzo did not speak or interact with any of the people that passed him. He did not care to speak to any one either way. Many in this tower knew his reputation and kept their distance. He made his way to the Hokage's office, an office that he believed that should have been his. He just looked at the receptionist who just allowed him in.

He entered the room and noticed the ANBU was in the room. They quickly secured the room while Hiruzen sat there and looked at him. Once the room was secured, Hiruzen gave him a serious gaze.

"I want an explanation Danzo." Hiruzen demanded. The man did not flinch at the tone but he would not lie to his former friend.

"I only wanted to monitor his growth. You are aware of the boy's changes. I was just concerned, knowing what the boy's ambition is." Danzo replied. Hiruzen did know what he was talking about. It had only been two weeks but Sasuke seem to have done a one-eighty with his attitude. He was more respectable to his teachers and to his classmates. Everyone was surprised when he would help those he believed were below him. Even his approach in training had changed. Still, it did not excuse Danzo's actions.

"Yet, you felt that it was your right to survail him?" the Hokage asked.

"Like I said, we know what his ambition is." the elder stated simply. This made Hiruzen narrow his eyes.

"It ends Danzo. The surveillance ends or I will end it for you." Hiruzen ordered.

"So you are just going to ignore the boy's growth? You aren't even going to question the cause of his growth? You know that this started with Naruto Namikaze two weeks ago. Why are you just ignoring this?" Danzo demanded.

"You are being paranoid about those two. What danger can it pose that the two are talking? Is it because of how close Naruto was to Sasuke's clan? Are you worried that he will tell Sasuke about our part in their destruction? Or rather, your part in the massacre?" he asked.

"The fact that you do not is worrying. Naruto is a danger to us, especially the power that he was willing to give the Uchiha clan." he argued.

"So, you know about the deal he was able to get for the clan? It was amazing, wasn't it?"

"This is not the time to joke Hiruzen! Those two together are dangerous!"

"Enough!" Hiruzen shouted and unleashed his intent. This calmed the tension in the room as the two stared hard at each other. "The survailence ends Danzo. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, I will stop looking out for the village's interest." Danzo stated. This made Hiruzen scoffed.

"You mean your interest. However, I will leave you with this. You shouldn't taunt a force that you can't control. I figured that you would have learned that lesson when Itachi confronted you that night." Danzo narrowed his lone eye at that. With a nodded of his head, Danzo quickly walked out of the office. He quickly stride through the halls of the tower. He was angry and he could not hide it with his usual patience. He needed to return and make plans for the future.

X-X-X

It was a celebration in the village. Everyone was out and enjoying it as it was the day that the Keimu Butai would be re-open. It had been a few months since they began to reinstate the group. With help of Naruto and several others, they were able to fund and rebuild. They trained those who wished to be a part of the group and the training was rigorous. Background checks were also made with the help of the Konoha Gomon/Jinmon Butai. With their help, it showed that there would be no acts of betrayal from within. Now, they were ready, three hundred strong.

On a podium, Hiruzen stepped forward and got the crowd attention. Hiruzen looked out into the crowd and ready himself to speak.

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming out to celebrate this event. It has been a task to get this done but the day is finally here and I cannot thank those who helped in making this a realty." This got him cheers for the cword and shinobi. "However, let us not forget the contribution of our former comrades, the Uchiha. They gave their all in making sure that we were safe within our walls. This current version of the Keimu Butai will honor their work and carry that legacy. I now hand this off to the leader of the Keimu Butai, Tsume Inuzuka." Hiruzen said and stepped to the side.

Tsume was wearing a standard Konoha uniform, her sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs. Her look was animalistic but she had a certain beauty about her with the purple lipstick. Her partner, Kuromaru stood beside her.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." she said before facing the crowd. "I'm not one for long speeches but I make the same declaration as our Hokage made. Under me, I will make sure that we honor the Uchiha and their legacy." Tsume turned to two guys holding a tarp over the symbol. They pulled the ropes to release the tarp, showing the symbol. Everyone was in awe at it and started to clap at what they saw. The one who was shocked the most was Sasuke.

The boy did not attend the celebration but he was in the area. He watched from afar and he was quiet about what he saw. However, when they unveiled the symbol, he was shocked to see a shinny new ninja star with the Uchiha symbol in the middle. The Konoha symbol was there as well, on the Uchiha fan. Sasuke could not believe that his clan's symbol was still being used and it moved him to tears. He was so happy that they honored his clan.

X-X-X

A few months passed in the village that saw a change. The new Keimu Butai showed just how important they were to the village. Within months, they were able to capture three spies and two traitors. The investigation division were praised for their quick actions and results. It also made others think before they even tried to spy on the village. The patrol division and the hunter division did their jobs as well, keeping the village safe. The success of the group had swelled their ranks, mostly from the reserves and genin that failed their exams.

Speaking of the academy, things were going very well with Kushina at the helm. The focus on skill rather than learning might have displeased members of the civilian council but Kushina didn't care. She wanted as few deaths as possible. It worked out for the village as last year's graduation class cleaned out the chunin exams in Kusagakure. Five genin were promoted to chunin and they were also doing well for themselves.

In all, things were going well for Konoha and it didn't look like it was going change any time soon.

X-X-X

Naruto stood before the Hokage in his now jonin flak vest. He had recently been promoted from Tokubetsu jonin. His test was not easy as Hiruzen threw everything at him. He succeeded however and was proudly given his vest. He stood ready and waited for his mission.

"So, this will not be your usual mission Naruto. Jiraiya sent word that he needs you to help him with a particular recon mission." Hiruzen said.

"Ero-sennin needs my help with recon? He's not tracking his old teammate again?" Naruto asked. "Please tell me I'm not being sent to bail him out of prison for peeking on women?" The question amused Hiruzen.

"No, nothing like that. He only asked for your help because of it's difficulty. You are to meet him at the border of Cha no Kuni." the Hokage explained.

"Alright then, I'll see later old man." With that Naruto vanished to start his mission.

X-X-X

It had been five days and Naruto was still doing his mission with his god-father, Jiraiya. Naruto loved the man dispite his perverted nature. He was there for him and his family when he lost his father. He also trained him in the arts, helping him with his chakra control and fighting style. When he became a chunin, he allowed him to sign the Gama contract. It was a great gift that was even more funny as the toads respected him more. He always like to dig the old man about it.

"So kid, you found someone yet?" Jiraiya asked.

"Are you seriously asking about my love life? You?" Naruto asked.

"I'll have you know that the women flock to me when ever I'm in towns." he argued.

"They only flock to you because of the cash in your pocket. You could have a great woman with that Amazon you fought. What was her name again?" he asked.

"Don't deflect boy. You won't get to change the subject. I'm only asking because your going to become of age. Got to keep your eyes open for when that pretty thing passes by. Or,"

"I'm going to stop you right there. You remember mom's warning should you mention the word harem. She will know and she will hurt you just like last time." Jiraiya pouted at that, making the blond chuckle. The kept watch on the town for a while before Naruto spoke up. "Hey, I have a question for you and I need you to be serious about this."

"Serious huh? Okay, what's the question?" Jiraiya asked.

"It's about the last Uchiha. I have done what I can but I feel that I could do more." Naruto said.

"I heard about that. I have to give you all the praise for that kid. What he went through, I can't even imagine what that does to the mind. From what sensei told me, he was on the road to being another Madara. You did a good thing by helping him away from that path of revenge." Jiraiya said.

"Don't praise me about that. He still wants revenge for the death of his clan and if I am being honest, he deserves to get it." the blond said sternly. Jiraiya didn't comment as he knew how his god-son felt about the death of the Uchiha.

"Anyway, you want to do more? In what way?"

"Despite all I have done to begin the change, Sasuke is still a canvas that can be brushed. There are elements, internal and external, that will try to be the painter. I want Sasuke to be his own, so I need to do more." Jiraiya could understand where Naruto was coming from.

"That's a tough question and I don't have any advice that would help. If only the boy's ambition aligned with Konoha, things would be better." Jiraiya said. Naruto looked to be thinking when Jiraiya said that.

"His ambition aligning with Konoha? That, that is actually a good idea. Yeah, that might actually work." Naruto said softly. Jiraiya heard him but was confused. He waited for him to say something but he just went back to surveillance. That annoyed the man greatly as it was a trait that Minato did all the time.

X-X-X

Sasuke took a breath before going through hand seals. He leaned back into a boulder and vanished. He moved around the boulder, holding his breath while he did. He would hold this technique for a while before disengaging it. Sasuke took a few breath as he ended the jutsu. He was impressed with the jutsu he found among his father's and mother's things.

"That was interesting." a voice said. Sasuke turned toward the voice to see Naruto. He was walking up to him. "The Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu is not something I would expect you to learn. It was your mom's favorite jutsu to use on me when I was kid."

"Really?" Sasuke asked.

"Did she ever tell you about the 'Ghost of Konoha'? An oni mask wearing spectre that could travel through walls to take bad children?" Naruto asked. Sasuke looked at him with surprise. "Yeah, the ghost was your mother. She took that prank I did way too seriously. She knew that I hate ghosts." Naruto shivered at the memory while Sasuke looked amused.

"So, did you need me for something?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"Not really. I've actually come with a few questions to ask you, two actually." Naruto said. Sasuke looked at the blond and wondered what those questions were. "The first question is if your still plan on avenging your clan?"

"Of course I am. I'm just going at it from a different view." Sasuke said.

"Don't worry, I'm not telling you to abandon it. The second question I want to ask you is if you know what a oinin is?" Sasuke was confused by that and shook his head. "Well then, lucky for you I happen to be one and I would like to give you the opportunity to learn the craft of an oinin to help you achieve your revenge." Naruto explained. Sasuke looked at him with stunned silence.

X-X-X

Naruko sat in complete stillness. She ignored everything around her and just focused on her task. When she opened her eyes, he found herself in large room that was covered in thorny vines. She hated the look of this place but she could do nothing about it. She just turned her attention to the cage in front of her.

"Hey Kyubi, get out here!" Naruko demanded. A large, negative feeling was felt. The chakra she was feeling was very oppressive and it was filled with malice. Two red eyes appeared and looked at the your blond girl.

"Ah, my dark princess, did you call?!" the deep, amused voice asked. Naruko just glared at the Kyubi.

X-X-X-X-X

Authors' Notes: New Chapter has arrived. I have no excuse for the lateness. I hope that you all are doing well and keeping safe. Please enjoy the new chapter.

Glossary

Keimu Butai - Military Police Force

Konoha Gomon/Jinmon Butai - Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force

Cha no Kuni - Land of Tea

Doton: Iwagakure no Jutsu - Earth Release: Hidden Earth Jutsu

Oinin - Hunter Ninja